A Message from Ellen

THE ELLEN FUND

"For my 60th birthday, Portia surprised me with the most incredible birthday gift I’ve ever received: A campus with my name on it at The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund. The campus will help continue Dian’s work to protect and study endangered mountain gorillas. Gorillas are amazing animals. I found out that gorillas and humans share 98 percent of the same DNA. But the thing that’s most amazing about gorillas is how compassionate they are. And here’s the sad part. They’re one of the most endangered animals in the world.” LEARN MORE >

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Fifty years after Dian started her work, I’m honored to help carry on her legacy. Together we can help save these beautiful creatures.

Making a Difference

The Ellen Fund

The Ellen Fund supports global conservation efforts for endangered species. Founded in 2018 by Portia de Rossi as a gift to Ellen DeGeneres, our immediate focus is to secure a future for wild mountain gorillas by building The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund a permanent home.

This project will not only help save these magnificent animals by building on successful field conservation efforts in Rwanda, but will also help the local community find ways to thrive alongside the gorillas.

Ellen DeGeneres is well-known for her comedy; she’s also an animal lover and passionate about animal conservation. In fact, her hero since childhood was Dian Fossey, the legendary figure featured in the book and movie Gorillas in the Mist. With this in mind, Portia de Rossi (Ellen’s wife and a fellow actor) surprised Ellen with the birthday gift-of-a-lifetime: an opportunity to follow in her hero’s footsteps by establishing a home for The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund through the newly established Ellen DeGeneres Wildlife Fund.

Portia frequently heard Ellen say that she wanted to do more to help. And so this gift gave Ellen — and the millions who love her — the opportunity to be a champion for an endangered species, just like Ellen’s hero Dian Fossey. The Ellen Fund will not only contribute to Ellen’s legacy, but is also a way to help carry Dian Fossey’s legacy onward.

And while it happens to be Ellen’s name on the Fund, one person alone can’t do this without the help, support, funding and love of a large community. The Ellen Fund is and always will be a team effort. It’s a forum for people around the globe to be able to join Ellen on this journey, an invitation for people to get engaged and walk with us to help our planet. It is, in fact, the only way that we can save these animals… with your help.

We invite you to follow and support our journey along the way via Ellen’s Journals, social media, and The Ellen Show updates. There are many ways to support the Campus, from donations to sponsorship opportunities.

WILDLIFE NEWS

“Wow. The groundbreaking was incredible. There were dancers, drummers and a lot of inspirational speeches about the potential of the Campus…” Hear more from Portia — including the video she sent home — in Portia’s second journal from Rwanda! Read Portia’s Journal No. 2 here >